A Commentary on the Passing Scene by
Robert Paul Wolff
rwolff@afroam.umass.edu

Coming Soon:

The following books by Robert Paul Wolff are available on Amazon.com as e-books: KANT'S THEORY OF MENTAL ACTIVITY, THE AUTONOMY OF REASON, UNDERSTANDING MARX, UNDERSTANDING RAWLS, THE POVERTY OF LIBERALISM, A LIFE IN THE ACADEMY, MONEYBAGS MUST BE SO LUCKY, AN INTRODUCTION TO THE USE OF FORMAL METHODS IN POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY.Now Available: Volumes I, II, III, and IV of the Collected Published and Unpublished Papers.

NOW AVAILABLE ON YOUTUBE: LECTURES ON KANT'S CRITIQUE OF PURE REASON. To view the lectures, go to YouTube and search for "Robert Paul Wolff Kant." There they will be.

To contact me about organizing, email me at rpwolff750@gmail.com

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Archive of Wolff Materials

Wednesday, September 17, 2014

BRIEF THOUGHTS ON A SLOW DAY

After baring my soul, as it were, in my reply to Ludwig Richter, I find myself without a large question to motivate an extended blog post today, so this will be some fugitive thoughts that have occurred to me as I prepare to fly out to San Francisco tomorrow to see my son and daughter-in-law and two grandchildren. I learned today that six-year-old Athena is a Daisy -- a precursor to Brownies, which is the feeder to Girl Scouts. I was completely unaware of The Daisys [or Daisies?]. The big treat this weekend will be a Saturday soccer game in which Athena will play. Needless to say, I shall be cheering from the sidelines.First Thought: ISIS [or ISIL] is barbaric and appalling, but it constitutes no threat at all to the safety and integrity of the United States. President Obama's decision to declare war on ISIS is a mistake, and it will poison what remains of his presidency as well as the presidency of Hillary Clinton. There was no rational justification for the decision, and no political need for it either.Second Thought: Hillary Clinton will almost certainly be the next president. She is completely in thrall to Wall Street, and is more hawkish by far than Obama. She is reliable and correct on all the social issues, especially regarding women's reproductive health. That is not nothing -- women are the majority in America -- but it is far from being enough. She will also be far less of a disaster than anyone nominated by the Republicans [including Rand Paul -- don't kid yourself about that.]Third Thought: I like Sam Wang more than Nate Silver. [This is inside baseball. Look it up.]Fourth Thought: If I am ever diagnosed with terminal cancer, I am going to go out and buy a jar of peanut butter, which I will then proceed to eat. I have not had peanut butter in years.Fifth Thought: After years of frustration and disappointment, I am now one cellist away from pulling together a string quartet for playing the classical literature. My fondest hope is that by the time I get back from our October in Paris, the quartet will be a reality.

About Me

As I observed in one of my books, in politics I am an anarchist, in religion I am an atheist, and in economics I am a Marxist. I am also, rather more importantly, a husband, a father, a grandfather, and a violist.